Gold 24K € 118,33 / g Silver 999 € 1,72 / g
Market update

Silver price drops more than 5 percent
on the day the ECB raises rates

Europe raised rates, US producer prices came in higher than expected and the odds of a US rate hike next week climbed to around 71 percent. Silver took the hardest hit. What that day means for anyone looking to sell silver cutlery, coins or old gold.

7 min read Updated on 11 September 2026 De Munter editorial
DE MUNTER · NEWS Market update

Silver had its worst day in months on Thursday 10 September. The spot price fell 5.46 percent to 63.50 dollars per troy ounce, according to Kitco’s closing report for the day. Gold lost 1.90 percent and closed at around 4,317 dollars. Two stories came together that same afternoon: the European Central Bank raised its rates, and fifteen minutes later US figures showed producer prices rising faster than expected. On Friday both metals are bouncing. After the US inflation figure, gold stands at around 4,370 dollars and silver at around 64.50 dollars, both a little over one percent higher. So there is no real recovery of the loss yet.

minus 5.46%fall in the silver price on Thursday 10 September 2026, according to Kitco’s closing report

The ECB raises rates by a quarter point

At 2.15 pm Belgian time, the ECB announced that it was raising its three key interest rates by 0.25 percentage points. The deposit facility rate, which is the rate banks receive when they park money at the central bank, goes to 2.50 percent. The new rates apply from 16 September. The ECB itself writes that the conflict in the Middle East continues to fuel inflation and that inflation will stay well above the 2 percent target for an extended period.

Its economists expect inflation to average 3.0 percent this year, followed by 2.5 percent in 2027 and 2.1 percent in 2028. Those last two figures are higher than in June. The ECB makes no promise about further steps. It decides meeting by meeting.

Why silver fell harder than gold

The heaviest weight came from the United States, though. At 2.30 pm, the US statistics bureau BLS published producer prices for August: up 0.4 percent on the month and up 5.4 percent on the year, just above the expected 5.3 percent. More than three quarters of the rise came from energy, which rose 4.2 percent. Diesel alone jumped 24.1 percent. At the same time, oil climbed further, with Brent well above 100 dollars a barrel.

For gold and silver that is a bad combination. Higher prices make a US rate hike more likely, and a higher rate makes metals that earn nothing less attractive. The market implied probability of a hike by the US central bank on 16 September rose to around 71 percent, according to the FedWatch tool of exchange group CME. Earlier this week it was still around 59 percent.

Silver took the hardest hit because it is a smaller and more volatile market, where industry makes up more than half of demand. Fears of a slower economy therefore weigh extra heavily. Anyone who remembers the pullback at the end of July will recognise the pattern. Back then silver lost 3.46 percent in a single day for almost the same reason.

What the euro changes

If you sell to us, you are paid in euros, not dollars. That is why the exchange rate matters. Normally a European rate hike strengthens the euro, which makes the metals cheaper once converted. On Thursday the opposite happened. The euro slipped, because the market read that the ECB does not want to commit to further steps and because the dollar was supported by the US figures. The ECB reference rate went from 1.1652 dollars on Wednesday to 1.1616 dollars on Thursday.

That weaker euro cushioned the fall by a small amount. Measured with those reference rates, silver lost about 5.2 percent in euros and gold about 1.6 percent. We explain exactly how that conversion works in our piece on gold in euros or in dollars.

Selling silver after a day like this

For anyone with silver cutlery, silver coins or old jewellery at home, the first lesson is that a day like Thursday is no longer an exception. Silver is heading for a third losing week in a row and trades far below the peak of more than 120 dollars reached in January. At the same time, the price is still high by historical standards.

For your own pieces, other factors weigh more than a single day’s price. Solid silver carries a hallmark such as 925, 835 or 800, while silver plated cutlery only has a thin layer and hardly any melt value. With coins, the silver content is what counts, and on older Belgian coins it is often lower than on recent bullion coins. What counts at the weighing is explained on our page about how to sell silver. Which coin has which fineness can be found on our page about silver coins.

What to take away

Silver lost more than 5 percent on Thursday, slightly less in euros. Days like this say little about the value of your own pieces. Have the weight and fineness determined first, and ask for the price of the day itself.

US inflation keeps the pressure on

On Friday at 2.30 pm Belgian time, the BLS published the US inflation figure for August. Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent on the month, after 0.1 percent in July, and 3.4 percent on the year. Excluding food and energy, the rise was 0.3 percent on the month, slightly more than expected. The market implied probability of a US rate hike on 16 September then climbed to around 86 to 90 percent. Gold and silver swung back and forth after the release, but are holding on to a gain of a little over one percent for the day. The rate meeting of 15 and 16 September is the next milestone. You can find the current price in euros every working day on our gold price today page.

Terms explained

Frequently asked questions

The ECB has one main task: keeping prices in the euro area stable, with inflation of around 2 percent. The conflict in the Middle East has made oil and gas much more expensive, and those higher energy prices feed through into almost everything we buy. A higher rate makes borrowing more expensive and saving more attractive, which cools demand and slows price rises. It also weighs on growth, which is exactly why the decision is a difficult balance. The ECB itself expects only 0.9 percent growth this year, but sees inflation of 3.0 percent as the bigger problem right now.

Producer prices measure what companies charge for their goods and services before they reach the consumer. When they rise quickly, shop prices often follow later. For the US central bank, that is a warning that inflation will not fall by itself, and therefore an argument for raising rates. A higher rate makes savings accounts and government bonds more attractive. Gold and silver pay no interest, so as soon as the expected rate goes up, investors move money out of the metals. On Thursday, the market implied probability of a US hike on 16 September rose to around 71 percent. That figure is not a forecast, but a snapshot of what traders collectively expect.

Silver is a much smaller market than gold, with less daily trading. The same wave of selling therefore moves the price proportionally more. Silver is also an industrial metal. More than half of demand comes from industry, including solar panels and electronics. When the market fears that higher rates will slow the economy, silver is hit twice: less investor demand and less expected industrial demand. Gold is mainly an investment and a reserve asset for central banks, so it swings less sharply.

A rate hike usually pushes a currency up, because saving in that currency pays more. But Thursday’s hike was largely expected and already priced in. What the market weighed most was the message that came with it. The ECB does not want to promise further steps and decides meeting by meeting. At the same time, the dollar was supported by the US producer prices, which make a US hike more likely. On balance, the euro slipped slightly. For anyone selling in euros, that cushioned the fall in silver and gold by a small amount.

Solid silver is made of a silver alloy all the way through and usually carries a hallmark such as 925, 835 or 800. That number tells you how many thousandths of pure silver it contains, so 925 means 92.5 percent. Silver plated cutlery or jewellery only has a thin layer of silver over a core of another metal, usually copper or brass. It sometimes carries a maker’s mark, but no fineness hallmark. When you sell, only the actual silver weight counts, so silver plated items have almost no melt value.

Sources
  1. European Central Bank: Monetary policy decisions (press release, 10 September 2026)
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Producer Price Index, August 2026 (press release, 10 September 2026)
  3. Kitco News: Gold, silver prices tumble as hot PPI, oil shock lift yields, PM Report (10 September 2026)
  4. European Central Bank: euro reference rates against the dollar (September 2026)

This text is informative and does not constitute tax or financial advice. For your personal situation, please consult your accountant. Rates are indicative and may change daily.

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